MFA Lore

MFA Lore

Writer In the World

Writing and Remission

Total immersion mastery, reaching for the words to begin again

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Writer In The World and Cate
Jul 02, 2025
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Mastery is extending the hand, over and over, after starting, after stopping, after uncertainty, after success, after doubt. Reaching out to begin again.

Welcome to Writer In The World, a curated collection of essays on the writing life by acclaimed MFA faculty and alumni. This is the Wednesday section of MFA Lore.

Other sections include Metaphortography, a quick dose of visual and literary inspiration that posts each Monday to launch your writing week. Writers in Conversation and other MFA Lore essays on the craft and business of creative writing drop each Saturday.

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High Five*

by Cate

I’ve always liked the number five. It brings up an early memory of sitting at the kitchen table with my parents. Dad was showing me how to draw the number on a piece of paper. “See, there’s this guy, and he leaves his house and goes straight down the st…

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